Lubinka Dimitrova's Reviews > Just My Type: A Book About Fonts

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Just My Type: A Book About Fonts
by

Simon Garfield,

Gildart Jackson (Narrator)

Lubinka Dimitrova's review

Oct 08, 2015

it was amazing

bookshelves: green-monster-of-jealousy, linguistics, male-author, pop-science, speaker-for-the-deaf, thought-provoking, favorite

What can I say? This was one of the best books I've read in a while. Of course, I'll never forgive it for completely ruining any chance I'd ever have to simply enjoy a sign on a shop or a book cover or a restaurant menu, or any written item I chance to see around me. I can never go back to simply "reading" the title, instead I examine the font and wonder what subliminal message it conveys (and more often than not, the shop owner or movie poster designer might not even imagine what their choice of font reveals). I guess I'm a type geek, probably I always was, and I truly enjoy fiddling with all the different typefaces our modern age offers us. Gaining some insight about the inner workings of this sphere was really eye opening - better late than never, I suppose.

The author has a wonderful writing style that I thoroughly enjoyed - which cannot be said about the narrator of the audio book, to whom I owe my deepest gratitude for forcing me to read the actual book, and SEEING all the types mentioned in it. I wonder what possessed me to think I could simply get the audio version.

Highly recommended to anyone who's even remotely interested in the subject.

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Reading Progress

October 8, 2015 – Shelved

October 8, 2015 – Shelved as: to-read

October 31, 2015 – Started Reading

October 31, 2015 – Shelved as: green-monster-of-jealousy

November 11, 2015 –

November 21, 2015 –

0% "Well, at last I know what sans serif means - and it always bugged me to find out (no, never bothered to google it). This book is one of the most interesting books I've read this year. Definitely should be enjoyed in print - duh! (Also, the narrator in the audio version is unbearable, so that's that)."

December 17, 2015 –

0% "Behold! I was blind and I see! I know now what's a fox got to do with fonts: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" turns out to be a pangram! A phrase containing all the letters of the alphabet. Who knew?! So do the (wrongly) not so popular "Portez ce vieux whisky au juge blond qui fume", and the dutch rendition of "Swedish ex-VIP, pretty crazy about quantum physics". And you thought typography was boring!"

December 20, 2015 – Shelved as: linguistics

December 20, 2015 – Shelved as: male-author

December 20, 2015 – Shelved as: pop-science

December 20, 2015 – Shelved as: speaker-for-the-deaf

December 20, 2015 – Shelved as: thought-provoking

December 20, 2015 – Shelved as: favorite

December 20, 2015 – Finished Reading